The MAIN reason we use oDesk is that it WAS easy to find Freelancers. Since the 'connects' concept has been enabled, I found that response to job postings have declined dramatically. So dramatically that I will probably be taking my business elsewhere!

eg: My last job posting for a Wordpress dev didn't get a single response.

Wordpress. There are thousands of qualified freelancers on oDesk who could have applied, but didn't. Due to this short-sighted 'connects' implementation.

I understand that upwork wants to make more money and is actively browbeating freelancers to join the paid program in order to generate revenue. But connects are not a good change. It's stopping Clients from finding Freelancers - which is the PRIMARY reason Clients use sites like this.

I can understand the frustration from the freelancer's angle too - they generally apply for as many jobs as they can, since they have no guarantee to be shortlisted.

On the surface, connects may look like a good idea. Generating revenue and reducing spam. But in practice it's making this site a ghost town.

And a Freelancer site that doesn't provide freelancers is useless to me.

If there is a major bug like this, then you should have notified clients. Maybe stopped new submittals until it was fixed.

FYI - To compare, I relisted the same listing on guru.com, freelancer.com and elance.com. Within an hour Guru has 9, freelancer 23 and elance 16 responses. This should eliminate any doubt about rates or structuring of the job request. The problem is definitely with upwork.

I posted a Wordpress job 4 days ago, and it has had 19 applicants. Maybe your posting was not organized or desirable to attract freelancers. Maybe your budget was not algined with the skill and work required to fulfill your request.

I don't think connects are the problem. The question is why doesn't a single freelancer feel that it's worth spending 2 connects to bid on your project?

Or as Corinne said... Maybe you're not getting bids because of a bug in the system.

Interesting fact... It doesn't cost freelancers any connects to submit a proposal when they are invited. Did you invite anyone?

I'm sorry to hear about your experience with this job post. If you posted this job in last 2 days, than it was definitely affected by the proposal-related issue that surfaced over the weekend. The submitted proposals will show up and you'll be able to review them, so please continue checking your job.

The MAIN reason we use oDesk is that it WAS easy to find Freelancers. Since the 'connects' concept has been enabled, I found that response to job postings have declined dramatically. So dramatically that I will probably be taking my business elsewhere!

eg: My last job posting for a Wordpress dev didn't get a single response.

Wordpress. There are thousands of qualified freelancers on oDesk who could have applied, but didn't. Due to this short-sighted 'connects' implementation.

I understand that upwork wants to make more money and is actively browbeating freelancers to join the paid program in order to generate revenue. But connects are not a good change. It's stopping Clients from finding Freelancers - which is the PRIMARY reason Clients use sites like this.

I can understand the frustration from the freelancer's angle too - they generally apply for as many jobs as they can, since they have no guarantee to be shortlisted.

On the surface, connects may look like a good idea. Generating revenue and reducing spam. But in practice it's making this site a ghost town.

And a Freelancer site that doesn't provide freelancers is useless to me.

Well, either you were affected by the bug or your budget is too low for others to spend connects on.

Yes, that must be frustrating! But as was mentioned previously, it is probably the bug and your applicants are probably just as frustrated....

Having said that, maybe it will help for you to know what a freelancer may be looking at prior to deciding whether to apply or not.

Before I bid on a project this is what I consider, and how it affects my decision:

1) Is the job description complete, gives me all the information I need to place a meaningful bid, friendly in tone, minus any shouted instructions? The more complete the info in the job posting, the less appliactions maybe received, but they will mainly be more relevant. I can't do a meaningful quote if I don't have the main facts at my disposal, so unless I have too much time I just move on.

2) The client's hire rate. Clients who have a super low hire rate either want the impossible, hire outside Upwork, or are just posting projects in the hope that they themselves get a contract. At any rate, a very low hire rate (30% or less) will make me less inclined to apply unless it's something I really want and everything else checks out.

3) The client's average rate paid. I look at both the overall average, and what they paid freelancers for other projects along similar lines. If there is too wide a gulf I move on. Say it's a German translation, and the most they ever paid a German Translator is $ 10.00 an hour, there probably isn't much point in me applying at $ 20+.

4) The feedback they left for their freelancers (not too worried about the feedback they received unless there are real red flags) - A history of leaving poor or mediocre feedback for freelancers with an otherwise good profile history will make me walk away. The same goes for clients who have lots of jobs where they didn't leave feedback. The latter would suggest that the contracts were either closed by the freelancer, or by Upwork for being old, and either way it would affect my job success score so not worth it.

5) How meaningful and relevant are any additional questions? A client who asks several "additional questions" which are either completely irrelevant to the project or can't possibly be answered in an intelligent way from the info given in the job description or are just excessive makes me want to not bother. I once applied to one such job and answered the question "Which part of the project do you thing will take the most time" with "Answering all these questions." I mean it was a small, staightforward, fixed rate translation. Client sends it, I translate it, I send it back. The question was completely meaningless.

Personally I don't think the Connects system affects the number of meaningful and high quality applications you get as the "better" freelancers tend to not run out of connects. So yes, you'd get a lower number, but the ones you get are probably more relevant. Instead of sifting through 50 applications of which 40 are complete no-nos, you may be getting 20 of which 10 are a great fit. Why spend more time weeding out those you'd never hire anyway than you need to?

Yes, that must be frustrating! But as was mentioned previously, it is probably the bug and your applicants are probably just as frustrated....

Having said that, maybe it will help for you to know what a freelancer may be looking at prior to deciding whether to apply or not.

Before I bid on a project this is what I consider, and how it affects my decision:

1) Is the job description complete, gives me all the information I need to place a meaningful bid, friendly in tone, minus any shouted instructions? The more complete the info in the job posting, the less appliactions maybe received, but they will mainly be more relevant. I can't do a meaningful quote if I don't have the main facts at my disposal, so unless I have too much time I just move on.

2) The client's hire rate. Clients who have a super low hire rate either want the impossible, hire outside Upwork, or are just posting projects in the hope that they themselves get a contract. At any rate, a very low hire rate (30% or less) will make me less inclined to apply unless it's something I really want and everything else checks out.

3) The client's average rate paid. I look at both the overall average, and what they paid freelancers for other projects along similar lines. If there is too wide a gulf I move on. Say it's a German translation, and the most they ever paid a German Translator is $ 10.00 an hour, there probably isn't much point in me applying at $ 20+.

4) The feedback they left for their freelancers (not too worried about the feedback they received unless there are real red flags) - A history of leaving poor or mediocre feedback for freelancers with an otherwise good profile history will make me walk away. The same goes for clients who have lots of jobs where they didn't leave feedback. The latter would suggest that the contracts were either closed by the freelancer, or by Upwork for being old, and either way it would affect my job success score so not worth it.

5) How meaningful and relevant are any additional questions? A client who asks several "additional questions" which are either completely irrelevant to the project or can't possibly be answered in an intelligent way from the info given in the job description or are just excessive makes me want to not bother. I once applied to one such job and answered the question "Which part of the project do you thing will take the most time" with "Answering all these questions." I mean it was a small, staightforward, fixed rate translation. Client sends it, I translate it, I send it back. The question was completely meaningless.

Personally I don't think the Connects system affects the number of meaningful and high quality applications you get as the "better" freelancers tend to not run out of connects. So yes, you'd get a lower number, but the ones you get are probably more relevant. Instead of sifting through 50 applications of which 40 are complete no-nos, you may be getting 20 of which 10 are a great fit. Why spend more time weeding out those you'd never hire anyway than you need to?

Wow Petra!

That rocks! You have articulated all of my frustrations when I am seeking freelance work and time after time see abysmally poorly written and badly drafted job descriptions on Upwork.